Soldiers fire at Afghan civilians

Five Afghan civilians have been shot and wounded by US and Afghan troops outside a military base in a restive area of the country that was the scene of a violent demonstration a day earlier, NATO said.

The incident took place in the Garmser area of Helmand province on Wednesday, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Todd Breasseale says warning shots were fired as a crowd of up to 400 people gathered outside the gate of a military base, Combat Outpost Sher.

"In the crowd, five or six individuals were threatening ISAF and ANA soldiers," he said.

"There were warning shots and the five or six individuals that were an imminent threat were targeted."

In a statement, ISAF said the five wounded civilians were taken to a nearby medical base for treatment facility.

On Tuesday, seven people were killed in Garmser during a demonstration sparked by rumours that foreign soldiers had desecrated a Koran in an operation the previous day, officials said earlier this week.

A government investigation team looking into the rumours that foreign soldiers had desecrated a Koran found they had been spread by Taliban operatives and were unfounded.

But during the demonstration on Tuesday shooting broke out and seven people - six civilians and an Afghan intelligence official - were killed.

There was nothing in the ISAF statement to indicate what sparked the demonstration that led to the shootings outside the base gate on Wednesday.

The Taliban, who have a heavy presence in Helmand province, often whip up resentment against foreign forces deployed to fight them.

There are 113,000 international troops fighting the insurgents, with another 40,000 being deployed this year.

Civilian casualties are a sensitive issue among Afghans, and are often seized on by President Hamid Karzai to bolster support for his government.

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